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227 Chapter 11 The Death Penalty in the Midwest Melody M. Miyamoto and Charles W. Showalter T he history of the Midwest contains fewer stories of violence than those of other regions. Racial lynching, vigilante justice,andcapitalpunishmentareseldomassociated with states like Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan , Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Yet, these states have not been without executions and the controversy that surrounds them. In the United States, only twelve states currently have no death penalty statutes. Of those twelve states, four are in the Midwest. Of the three Midwest states with death penalty statutes, one, Illinois, has issued a moratorium on executions and another, Wisconsin , recently placed an initiative to abolish the death penalty in front of voters. Given these figures , it might be easy to conclude that the Midwest has a lower incidence of capital punishment than the rest of the nation. However, another Midwest state, Ohio, has the fifth-highest death row population in the nation, and ranks in the top 25 percent of states for number of executions in the last thirty years. Like the death penalty in the rest of America, capital punishment in the Midwest appears to follow few set patterns and there are few explanations for the divergent death penalty stances of the various midwestern states. However, there are some trends among the states in the Midwest. For example, several have seen abolitionist movements crop up as a response to botched executions, overturned convictions, or as part of a larger, nationwide abolitionist movement . Similarly, some states have either reinstated or considered reinstating the death penalty in response to highly publicized murders. The Midwest’s relationship with the death penalty has produced dozens of famous executions, a landmark United States Supreme Court decision, and a number of current controversies over present death penalty statutes. Illinois Prior to 1976 (when the Supreme Court ruled, in Gregg v. Georgia, that the death penalty is not cruel and unusual, and can be implemented), the state of Illinois executed 348 inmates. The state legally reenacted the death penalty in 1974, and since then has put to death twelve people. Crimes punishable by death include first-degree murder with one of twenty-one aggravating circumstances , including killing a police officer or fireman, an employee or prisoner in a prison or jail, an emergency medical worker while on duty, a community policing volunteer, or a teacher or other school employee near a school. The death penalty can also be used when a person is convicted of killing multiple people with separate 228 Melody M. Miyamoto and Charles W. Showalter intent or by separate acts, or when hired or by hiring another person. The death penalty can also be implemented for intentionally killing someone in the course of an intentionally violent felony, in a “cold, calculated and premeditated manner,” or in a way that involves torture. Also, murder as a way to prevent or retaliate against the victim for aiding in persecution, or murder of someone under order of protection from the murderer, may also result in the death penalty. Persons convicted of murdering a disabled person, killing someone over sixty or younger than twelve, a murder involving torture, drive-by shootings, gang or drug conspiracies, or an act of terrorism are all eligible for the death penalty. As of 2006, there were eleven people on death row, none of whom were women. In the state of Illinois, life without parole is an option and the jury determines the sentence. The mild end of the punishment spectrum for such a crime is twenty to sixty years imprisonment, but persons found guilty of a felony can be put to death even though he or she was not responsible for the murder. The state has freed eighteen people from death row and has granted 127 clemency requests. Male prisoners are given a lethal injection at Pontiac Correctional Center in Pontiac, Illinois, while women face their deaths at Dwight Correctional Center in Dwight, Illinois. The governor can grant clemency with the nonbinding advice of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. The murder rate per ten thousand people is six. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1974, Illinois has allowed the punishment for firstdegree murder, at the request of the prosecutor, and it may be imposed by a jury or a judge. The judge can choose the death penalty without consulting the jury, and the judge may also override the jury’s sentence of death and may opt for life imprisonment instead. The first execution...

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